Living With an Aggressive Cat

Cats are mostly cute and cuddly, but they also have an aggressive side. According to the ASPCA, aggressive cat behavior is the second most common problem cat behaviorists see. Identifying the behaviors and the motivations are key to solving the problem.

7 Types of Aggressive Cat Behavior

An aggressive cat’s behavior can be categorized by the motivation for the the behavior. However, keep in mind that aggression is a very complex subject and more than one type of aggression can be displayed at the same time.

Photo Credit: Tomi Tapio K via Flickr

Territorial Aggression
An aggressive cat motivated could be motivated to keep unwanted guests out of their territory (or to remove them if they are already there). This is most commonly seen between unneutered males, but can occur between any two cats.

Redirected Aggression
This type of aggression occurs when a cat is aggressively aroused by something, but when unable to release that aggression upon that something, releases it on the closest person or animal. For example, a cat is sitting in a window and sees another cat “in its territory.” Unable to jump through the window, the cat turns and attacks another cat who was sitting near the window. Redirected aggression can be very difficult to confirm as a motive because the aggressive reaction my be delayed for hours after the stimulus occurred.

Play Aggression
According to the ASPCA, play aggression is the most common form of aggression toward the cat’s owners. This sort of rough play is common for kittens under the age of 2 years because they are still learning how to control their own behavior.

Petting Induced Aggression
Some cats love to be petted and others do not. If a cat does not want to be petted, it can quickly become an aggressive cat. Heeding signs of agitation like a twitching tail or moving away from your hand can keep you from being the subject of your cat’s aggression.

Photo Credit: Consumerist via Flickr

Pain-Induced Aggression
A kitty that is sick or hurt could easily become aggressive. This is a type of aggression that even very friendly cats may have. You may notice that the cat becomes aggressive when it is touched a certain way or on a certain part of it’s body.

Maternal Aggression
Understandably, a mother cat is protective of her kittens. It may be best not to handle newborn kittens for a few days after they are born.

Idiopathic Aggression
In very rare cases it may be impossible to determine a motivation for the cat’s aggression. If all other possibilities can be ruled out, it is considered idiopathic aggression.

Is there a pill for that?

The very first thing that you should do if you are having a problem with an aggressive cat is take that cat to the veterinarian. It is very important that your veterinarian rule out any medical causes for the behavior such as : dental disease, abscesses, arthritis, hyperthyroidism, sensory decline, cognitive dysfunction, epilepsy, toxoplasmosis, trauma, and rabies. Resolving the illness or injury could stop the aggressive behavior. Your veterinarian may also have other medication options to help with aggression in cats that do not have a medical cause for their behavior, but these medications are only effective when coupled with behavioral therapy.

Knowing the Signs of Aggression

Photo Credit: Lysinewf via flickr

Aggressive cat behavior is communicating something to you and other people or animals. Understanding your cat’s way of communicating rising aggression can help you pin point the motivation behind the aggressive behavior and thus begin resolving the problem. Your cat’s body language will give you a lot of clues.

Aggression can be offensive or defensive. An aggressive cat that is acting offensively will attempt to make itself look larger. It will directly face it’s opponent with a constant stare and stiff posture (rear end up high with tail straight down). Piloerection (hair standing up on the shoulders, back and tail) may also be present. The ears will remain upright, but the backs of the ears may be slightly rotated forward. The cat may growl or howl.

An aggressive cat that is acting defensively will attempt to make itself smaller. These cats feel that they are being threatened and want nothing more than to have the threat go away. A defensively aggressive cat may crouch down holding it’s head and tail in towards its body. You may also see piloerection in these cases, but instead of facing the opponent directly, they will turn to the side. The ears will be flattened to the sides or back of the head. Their eyes will be wide open with pupils dialated. Hissing, spitting, and quick strikes with the front claws may occur.

Tips for Mediating Aggressive Cat Behavior

Never use punishment(even gentle punishments like taps on the nose) as a means of modifying aggressive behavior. This will only result in more fear and agitation. Instead, reward the cat when they are displaying the behaviors you want to see.

Ignore aggressive behavior whenever possible. If you respond the way the cat wants you to respond, it enforces the behavior and tells the cat that aggression will work on you. Attempting to console the cat will also be perceived as a reward for their aggressive behavior.

Early intervention is best. Begin consulting your veterinarian and implementing a behavior modification plan as early as you can.

Try not to put your cat in situations that you know will make them aggressive.

Record instances of aggression to help find a pattern of behavior. Think about all of the circumstances leading up to the aggressive cat behavior and what the cat was aggressive toward.

What types of aggressive behavior have you seen in cats?

Quick note: I will likely do posts in the future going into more detail about individual types of aggression and how they are solved. If there is one you would like to see, please let me know.

Thank you very much! I haven’t had an aggressive cat either. I guess Manna is a little aggressive, but I’ve always just considered her to have a strong personality. It’s never caused any real problems. I can see how frustrating it would be for someone who does have an aggressive cat though.

This is a great post. As you may know, Sassy is aggressive (and also FIV+) so she is kept separate from the other cats. I’ve figured out that her aggression towards the other cats is defensive – she feels threatened by them. However, I can’t figure out why she is sometimes aggressive towards my husband and me. She will be cuddling with us, purring up a storm, and then all of a sudden she will bite. They aren’t love bites either – she bites hard, sometimes drawing blood. She’s been to the vet, and she’s healthy and fine. It is usually if I move or something, so I think she may be biting because I do things or move in ways she doesn’t like. But that is a pretty extreme reaction! Oh well… we will keep working with her and hopefully she will mellow out so she can be with the other cats.

Thank you for sharing about Sassy. It does sound like a petting aggression sort of issue. One article I read while preparing for this post suggested that you can use treats (or other rewards) to encourage calm behavior when petting. It said to give the cat a treat when they have been calm while being petted and “ignore” them if they become aggressive. I don’t know if that would help at all.

You’re welcome! I think it is important that cat owners see these so that can understand what might be motivating aggressive behavior in their cat. Cats are motivated by different things than people are sometimes.

Binga is 14 and she STILL has play aggression towards Boodie! Maybe because Boodie never really discourages it (she runs but won’t hide from her), and human discouragement, as everyone knows, does not count.

One of the articles I read while researching this said that sometimes if a kitten gets removed from its siblings too early that it might not develop proper boundaries for play. I don’t know if that would applied for Binga, but that is one possible answer. Manna has some play aggression too.

OMC Robin, you remember me of Angel Loupi ! He was already a stressed cat, and my unexpected arrival at home has been a real cat-astrophe for him, even if Mum did all right ! It was typically territory agression against me ! It took several months, tons of Feliway and Zylkene, and tons of patience of Mum so that Angel Loupi could tolerate me ! Purrs, Zorro

I’m glad that Angel Loupi was finally able to tolerate you, Zorro. You seem like such a nice kitty. New sisfurs and brofurs can be hard for some cats. Cinco wasn’t particularly thrilled about Manna at first either. Of course, Manna had a rather extended stay (a couple of weeks) in the bathroom because of testing that needed to be completed. When she finally could come out of the bathroom, Cinco was okay with her.

well I’m not sure if its “Territorial Aggression” or “Play Aggression but Bella does piss off Max at times. Some time they can walk right by each other and nothing will happen. Other times Bella will walk up to Max and smack him with her paw for no reason. Then Max will get mad and chase & pin her down and start biting her. They don’t hurt each other, but they do hiss and make other noises. Max could hurt Bella because he is 16 lbs and Bella is only 10 lbs. I don’t think that he would intentionally harm her, but I do try and monitor them.

It is a good idea to monitor those things. It could be a combination of types of aggression. Aggressive behavior is very complicated and there can be multiple motives. I’ve seen my cats do this too. I think sometimes it is that one cat wants to play and the other is not in the mood.

My cats aren’t aggressive to humans. They swat each other now and again, but it’s nearly always a matter of someone getting too close to someone else. I reward positive behavior among the cats. They’ve learned that they’ll only get dinner if they’re nice to each other. Athena will sometimes groom Dawn and then give me a look to say, “Okay, I was nice. Now can we eat?”

It sounds like you have a great system. My cats are the same way. There is a little bit of aggressive behavior, but nothing that concerns me. It’s great that you use rewards! Athena sounds like a really funny girl 🙂

I have found frankie only issue besides not liking men is he does not like loud noises so if I fuss at the boys he will get mad and nip me not hard just to let me know I don’t like loud noises. One time he freaked me out I was fussing at the boys and laying on the bed and he jumped up and grabbed my cheek and gave me a look like stop fussing. That’s when I did research and found out certain cats don’t like a lot of noise have you found this to be so?

Yes. I do believe that some cats are very noise sensitive. Others can be very tolerant of noise. It can also be particular noises that bother the cat. If you are not the first owner of the cat, it’s possible that there was a lot of yelling in the previous home that caused him to feel anxiety about yelling. My cat, Cinco, is very sensitive to hearing people near our door. Even when they are not coming to our apartment, hearing the foot steps will make him anxious.

Thank you. Sometimes cats just aren’t a good match together. Happens with people too. Cat’s can still be territorial even after they are fixed. It can be difficult to figure out exactly what is motivating aggression sometimes. I’m glad to hear that Kit is not so aggressive. Calm kitties are wonderful 🙂

Sister Precious is aggressive towards other kitties, but never to humans. That’s why she has her own suite upstairs. We’ve tried everything, but she is doing better at seeing us and not having a hissy fit.

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